Controlling and indicating mechanism for winding apparatus



Feb. 12 1935. McILV RIED 1,990,834

CONTROLLING AND INDICATING MECHANISM FOR WINDING APPARATUS Filed July 26, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fgb. 12, 1935. E, J, MclLVRIED 7 1,990,834

CONTROLLING AND INDICATING MECHANISM FOR WINDING APPARATUS Filed July 26, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 45 The wire drawing machine or Patented Feb. 12, 1935 CONTROLLING AND INDICATING MECHA- NISM FOR WINDING APPARATUS Edwin J. McIlvried, Akron, Ohio, assignor to The Vaughn Machinery Company, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, a corporation of .Ohio

Application July 26, 1930, Serial No. 470,889

8 Claims.

This invention relates to winding apparatus for use with machinery from which material to be wound is continuously delivered in strand or strip form, such as wire drawing machinery and the like.

My invention, which will be described in detail hereinafter, aims to provide an improved form of winding apparatus in which novel means is provided for indicating the amount of material which has been wound on the spool; in which indications of the extent to which the spool has been filled with material are given in response to the speed of rotation of the spool driving means; and in which control means is provided for automatically stopping the spool driving means when the spool becomes full.

The invention may be further briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described 20 and particularly set out in the appended claims.

The spool supporting and retaining means, herein disclosed but not claimed, is claimed in copending application Serial No. 470,890, filed July 26, 1930. r I

In the accompanying sheets of drawings whic illustrate a practical embodiment of the invention,

Figure l is a partial top plan view showing winding apparatus constructed according to my 30 invention.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view thereof on a larger scale.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the control mechanism taken in the direction indicated by 35 the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the control apparatus shown in Fig. 3.

In illustrating the winding apparatus, which,

embodies my invention, I have shown this apparatus as being used in connection with a wire drawing machine, but it should be understood however that the utility of my invention is by no means limited to the one practical embodiment disclosed in this application.

the like, with which my winding apparatus is used, is indicated generally .by the reference character 10, ,and may comprise a casing 11, and suitable strand working apparatus housed in the casing. 50 The wire or strip of material 14 which issues from the machine 10, will for convenience be termed a strand, and as indicated in Fig. 1, passes over the sheave 15 arranged near the casing 11, to the reel or spool 16 upon which it is wound. During the winding operation the strand of .material is guided by the fingers 17 which move back and forth in timed relation with the speed of rotation of the spool in a wellknown manner.

The spool upon which the material is to be 5 wound may be removably mounted upon, and driven by, a substantially horizontally extending rotatable carrier or arbor 18. The spool may be retained upon the rotatable arbor by an expan sible abutment 29 which may be provided at the -10 outer end of the arbor. The arbor, or arbor shaft, may be provided at the opposite end thereof with a suitable'pulley 25 so that the arbor and the spool carried. thereby may be driven from the electric motor 26 by means of 15 the belt 27. v

The strand of material to be wound issues from the wire drawing machine 10, or other machine with which my winding apparatus is used, .at a substantially uniform rate and in taking up the material the issuing strand is maintained under tension. As the material is wound upon the spool the point of tangency between the strand and the spool moves radially outwardly, or in other words the diameter upon which the strand is being wound becomes larger and larger with the result that the-spool tends to take up the strand at an increasing rate. However, since the strand is delivered to the winding apparatus at a substantially uniform rate; the speed of ro- 30 tation of the spool must necessarily decrease gradually as the material buildsup on the spool. The construction of the motor 26 which rotates, the spool, is such that it permits a gradual decrease in the speed of rotation of the spool and when the latter has been filled the speed of the motor has decreased to a minimum. Furthermore, the design of this motor is such that while driving the spool at various speeds, within the range of spool speeds required for taking up the 40 strand at the substantially uniform rate at which it is delivered by the strand working means, the motor operates, as a substantially. constant horsepower motor, and therefore since the strand is delivered to the winding apparatus at a substantially uniform rate, or in other words, since the fastest rate at which the strand can be taken up is a substantially uniform one, the constant horsepower of the motor results in asubstantially constant tension being maintained on the strand.

For indicating the extent to which the spool has been filled with material during the operation of my winding apparatus, I provide an indicator 54 which is actuated in response to the 55 2 speed or the spool driving motor 26. The indicating apparatus comprises a casing 55 having one or more graduated openings 56 through which the reciprocable sleeve 57 may be observed.

By means of the rods 58 and 59 the sleeve 57 is connected to the lever 60 of the speed responsive device 61 which is driven from the motor 26 by means'of the belt 62 which passes around the pulley 62. As the spool is gradually filled its speed of rotation gradually reduces, as explained above, and likewise the speed of rotation of the pulley 62 is reduced. A corresponding reduction in the speed of rotation of the movable weights 63 of the speed responsive device 61', al-* lows these weights to be retracted to move the lever 60 downwardly about its pivot 64. The downward movement of this lever causes the rod 59 to be moved downward also and the rod 58 to move the sleeve 57 upwardly to indicate the extent to which the spool has been filled.

To automatically bring the driving motor 26 to a stop when the spool has been filled, I provide a switch 65 which is suitably mounted ad- 'acent the rod 59. A sleeve 59', having the threaded upper end thereof split for a portion of its length, is adjustably secured on the rod 59 by means of the clamp 66. An operating member 67 is arranged to extend outwardly from the switch so as to be engaged by the collar 68 which is slidable on the sleeve 59'. An enlargement provided at the lower end of the sleeve 59' forms a stop 68' which limits movement of the collar 68 on the sleeve in one direction, while the coil spring 69 opposes movement of'the collar in the other direction along the sleeve.

When the rod 59 and the sleeve 59' clamped thereon, move downwardly as a result of a reduction in the speed of the motor 26, the collar 68 engages the operating member 67. The spring 69 resists sliding movement of the collar along the sleeve and conesquently the collar moves downwardly with the sleeve and the switch 65 is operated to cause the supply of power to the motor 26 to be cut off. As this motor slows down, the rod 59 and the sleeve 59' are moved further in the downward direction. The operating member 67 having already been thrown, now prevents the collar from moving downwardly with the sleeve and the latter slides through the collar compressing the spring 69. The clamp 66 provided at the upper end of the sleeve 59 forms an abutment for the upper end of the spring 69, and by screwing this clamp along the threaded part of the sleeve, the resistance which this spring offers to sliding movement of the collar 68, may be varied for adjusting or calibrating the control mechanism so that the switch 65 will be actuated at the proper time when the spool has been filled. Additionally, the sleeve 59, together with the collar, spring, and stop thereon, can be moved along the rod 59 and secured thereto in different positions of adjustment by mechanism so that it will properly indicate the amount to which the spool has been filled with material, and will indicate a full spool when the switch 65 is snapped to stop the driving motor 26.

The strand material which has been wound means of a roller 71 which is arranged to be pressed against the material wound upon the spool. This roller may be carried by a swinging bracket'72 and the bracket may be actuated to press the roller against the wound material by means 01' gearing 77 and the torque motor 78.

I have already referred to=the fingers 1'? as a means for guiding or laying the strandas itis wound upon the spool and, while this device does not form an essential part of my invention, I point out that these fingers are reciprocably movable upon the cylindrical guide 81 and are actuated by a suitable screw which is housed within the guide, and which is rotated by means of the belt 83 and a suitable speed reducing device 84.,

From the foregoing description of the windingapparatus of my invention it will now be readily. seen that I have provided control means whereby the spool driving means is automatically brought ing after the strand has been cut or broken by to a stop when the spool has been filled with indications of the amount of material which has been wound upon the spool, so that the spool and associated apparatus may be completelyenclosed within a protective casing and need not be open to the inspection of the machine operator.

Throughout .the specification and claims I have used the term spool to designate the device upon which the strand of material is wound, and it should be understood that I do not use this term in the narrow sense in which it is used to designate the conventional form of spool having flanged ends, but I use this term in the broader sense in which it designates any form oi drum, reelor spool on which a strand is wound or taken up. I While'I have described the apparatus of my invention in a detailed manner, it should be understood, however, that I do not intend to limit myself to the precisedetails shown and described,"but regard my invention as including such changes and modifications as do not in- .volve a departure from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. In apparatus of the character described the combination of a rotatable. spool carrier, driving means for rotating said carrierat progressively varying speeds so as to maintain a tially constant tension on material being wound upon a spool mounted on said carrier, and indicating means responsive to the speed of said driving means for indicating the amount of material which has been wound on said spool, and

means for automatically rendering said driving meansineflective when said spool becomes full.

3. In apparatus of the character described the combination of a rotatable spool carrier, driving means for rotating said carrier at progressively varying speeds so as to maintain a substantially constant-tension on material being wound upon a spool mounted on said carrier, means for indicating the amount of material which has been wound on said spool, means responsive to the speed of said driving means for actuating the indicating means, and control means associated with the speed responsive means for rendering said driving means ineifective when said spool becomes full.

4. In apparatus 01' the character described the combination of a rotatable spool carrier, means for rotating said carrier with a spool thereon at progressively varying speeds, and means responsive solely to changes in the speed of said rotating means for indicating the amount of material which has been wound on said spool.

5. In ,apparatus of the character described the combination of a rotatable spool carrier, means for rotating said carrier at progressively diflerent rates or speed as the size of the spool changes, and means controlled by the change in the'speed of rotation of said carrier for indicating the extent to which a spool has been filled.

6. In apparatus ot'the character described, the combination of a rotatable winding arbor, driving means for rotating said arbor at progressively varying speeds to compensate for changes in the eflfective diameter of the arbor as material is wound thereon, means actuated in response to changes in the speed of rotation of said arbor, an indicator for indicating the amount of material wound on said arbor, and

means operatively connecting said indicator with the last mentioned means.

7. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of a rotatable winding arbor, a constant horsepower variable speed motor for rotating said arbor at varying speeds to thereby maintain a substantially constant tension on the material being wound and to compensate for changes in the efiective diameter of the arbor as material is wound thereon, and means operable solely in response to changes in the speed of rotation of said motor for indicating the amount of material wound on said arbor.

8. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of a rotatable arbor, a constant horsepower variable speed electric motor for r0.- tating said arbor at varying speeds to thereby maintain a substantially constant tension on the material being wound and to compensate for changes in the eii'ective diameter of the arbor as material is wound thereon, a circuit for said motor, a switch in said circuit, an indicator for indicating the amount 0! material wound on said arbor, and means operable solely in response to changes in the speed of rotation of said arbor for actuating said indicator and for opening said switch to thereby stop said motor when the arbor becomes full.

' EDWIN J. McILVRIED. 

